Digital documents based on markup languages have come to embody a major portion of human communication. Specifically, web pages, based on the HTML markup language, have become widely accessible by people using client computers running web browser software that are connected to the Internet. Such client computers now include small devices running on battery power that are capable of communicating wirelessly over both short (feet) and long (several miles) distances. These and other advancements enable these mobile devices to download and view web pages away from any supporting infrastructure. When these client computers have the capability of executing the runtime core of web browser software, they can also execute programming that may be embedded in such pages including those known as “apps”.
Mobile web-capable devices typically have small screens to make them more easily transportable. But the standard web page is sized for viewing on desktop client computers with large screens. Even individual components of a web page, such as tables, images and text blocks may be larger than the small screen can display. Mobile devices typically also have keystroke input capabilities that are inferior to a desktop client with a keyboard. In addition, mobile devices are often used in a setting which makes both screen viewing and input even more difficult. Finally, cost savings and performance improvements may be achievable if only the specific component or a subset of all the components of the page are required to be downloaded. These drawbacks necessitate greater effort and possibly longer delays and greater costs for the viewer to retrieve web pages and to view particular components of information on a page that interest them. These drawbacks also pertain to larger screen devices, such as tablets, netbooks, laptops and PCs, to varying degrees.
Techniques have been devised which attempt to ameliorate this barrier to information access. For example, bookmarks in browser software can be set when visiting a web page to speed repeat access to it in the future. Touch-sensitive screens with software that can interpret physical gestures can improve page scrolling. Transcoding servers re-write the markup language of standard web pages to deliver modified pages with resized component information objects that fit mobile screens better. These techniques reduce barriers for users of certain mobile devices or the publishers of certain web-based information. But they do not provide a general solution that enables faster, better, and possibly less costly viewing of the information objects from the documents of most all web servers.
Small screens and the personal nature of mobile communications have resulted in viewer resistance to advertising display on their devices. Advertisers have found that sponsoring searches on online desktop personal computers using a search engine service has been commercially effective because search terms indicate the viewer's contextual intent. Presently, advertisers have limited means of displaying advertisements on mobile devices that are more contextually precise and more of a navigational aid than an intrusion. Furthermore, viewers are becoming more resistant to privacy invasion that results from tracking viewing history and associating it with personal information. Advertisers need ways to display advertising that is at least as effective as that placed on search results pages especially if personal information is not available to them.